


South Side

by orphan_account



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-13
Updated: 2013-01-13
Packaged: 2017-11-25 09:49:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,089
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/637620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This was basically just me attempting to write South's perspective of the events leading to her death. </p>
<p>I wrote this nearly a year ago, so no guarantees on the quality.</p>
            </blockquote>





	South Side

South stood in the devastated bunker outside of the concrete base. A once formidable fort, it appeared to have undergone major destruction from the simulation troops who had fought their ‘war’ there. “Any idea what this place is?” she whispered.  
‘According to Command’s data, this is Outpost 48-A,’ Delta replied. ‘Wash’s prior stop was Outpost 28-A.’  
“Why is he collecting Blues? I thought these sim-soldiers were all misfits who were never fit for UNSC,” South thought aloud.  
‘Logic behind his reasoning is unknown. However, the first Blue and the only soldier stationed here seem to both have been in Outpost Alpha together for approximately five years. I am unaware of whether they had any contact prior.’   
“Thanks, Delta. I want to continue following them as soon as they leave. Wash is planning something big. I can feel it.”  
‘That is highly unlikely as most people cannot touch or feel plans.’  
“Shut up, Delta.”

_God, this A.I. is such a pain._ ‘I resent that.’   
_Stop bugging me. Now what is he trying to do? The second Blue shot at the other for nearly a full minute. Not only crappy aim, but a lack of teamwork. So Wash must not need them for anything involving… well, any skills. The first one mentioned that he had nothing to do with killing the second in any way. He seems like a soldier I would relate to._  
“This will be the greatest roadtrip ever!” the Blue suddenly declared.  
 _… Maybe not._   
South ducked back into the bunker to avoid being seen as the trio walked past. Staring at them, she noticed Wash was having them walk a few steps in front of him.   
_Guess he doesn’t trust anyone to watch his back._  
The thought brought her a sudden pang of guilt that she quickly dismissed.   
_What happened is in the past. Can’t undo it, so why bother worrying about it?_  
Stepping out of the base, she squinted slightly as her helmet adjusted to the sudden increase in light. ‘I still believe this course of action is dangerous. If we are following Agent Washington, logic would dictate that others could be as well,’ Delta commented, appearing next to her as a small holographic Spartan floating at head level, casting a green glow around her.  
South rolled her eyes at his fretting. She was about to berate him, but then she heard a soft thump as though something had just landed on the dirt. Turning to the right, she saw the soldier walking towards her menacingly. At being seen, he raised his weapon and two grenades flew out of the Brute Shot. She jumped back into the bunker, narrowly avoiding the explosives. Pulling out her battle rifle, she watched her armor’s motion tracker. As he neared the base’s entrance, she shot forward, trying to hit him with the butt of her rifle. He blocked with his own gun, then swung at her head, nearly cutting her with the knife on its edge. She pushed off of him, dropping her rifle near the bunker’s door in the process as she tried to dodge the blade. However, it did scratch her visor, knocking her off balance as she fell back against the concrete wall.  
 _Son of a bitch, how strong is he? That was just a nick!_  
Sliding the pistol out of her armor’s holster, she quickly fired six rounds, four of which went wide, while one hit just above the heart and the other found its mark in his right arm near the elbow. “Yes!” she exclaimed enthusiastically, but her feeling of success plummeted as she saw the only effect was him being pushed back by the bullets’ force. “How the hell is he surviving? Even if I missed his heart, he should be dying!”  
‘Perhaps he has the enhanced healing factor that Wash had possessed before you had left him to the Meta,’ Delta said.  
His voice sounded neutral, but South thought she detected a hint of patronization. Ignoring a brief feeling of anger at Delta’s tone, she pushed off of the wall, launching herself at the white soldier again. Expecting it this time, he merely scooted back, but at the same time, South stopped herself, having feigned the attack. “Delta, dome shield now!” she commanded hurriedly. As a grenade flew at her, a wide bubble materialized around her, blocking the explosive.   
“Good job. We should be safe for now,” she said, picking up the previously discarded battle rifle and reloading her pistol. “Delta, diagnosis.”  
‘We are cornered by what Command is now calling the Meta. He is assaulting the shield as we speak. Your helmet has a two-inch scratch where his weapon’s knife damaged it and your armor has very mild burns on the lower-right torso from his first grenades. Any damage to a Recovery agent’s armor automatically sends out a Priority Zero beacon. Since you have not changed your armor, you are still technically classified as such, so now Command knows we’re in trouble.’  
 _Great. I hope that he isn’t on his way. _  
Staring at the Meta, he glanced at her for a moment, then continued his barrage on the shield. Scooting to the back of the bubble, she said quietly, “Instruction: Delta, ignore my thoughts.”  
‘South, it is logically that I may help us work together using them.’   
“Program override,” South replied.  
‘Override accepted,’ Delta said, slightly glum.  
 _I have to sacrifice him. Who knows when Wash will get here? If he can’t arrive in time to try to save me, he can’t save Delta. Plus, if I went down fighting now, the Meta could get my armor enhancement and then he’d be even more powerful, making him harder to kill and more likely to endanger others. I’m just trying to think about the good of the other Freelancers and soldiers. Why doesn’t anyone else understand that? North probably wouldn’t understand it, even though he’s all too willing to sacrifice himself for people’s safety. Just like that idiotic stunt on the Pelican on the way back from that stupid Cryogenics lab. How is that different from what she’s planning on doing? What makes North so much better when so many people prefer to think we’re absolutely the same? Why the hell does--_  
A sudden crackle broke her chain of thought. Looking up in surprise, she realized she’d been lost in thought for nearly four minutes. A spark had appeared on the shield for a minute, showing that it was weakening. “Delta, report!” she commanded.   
‘Your suit’s energy reserves are nearly depleted. The shield will not-‘  
“How much longer?”  
‘The Meta will breach our barrier within sixty seconds. I suggest you prepare your grenades while I divert power from your armor’s non-essential systems.’  
“No.”  
‘You have a better plan?’   
“Keep the shield up for as long as possible. When it starts to falter, transfer yourself to the storage unit.”  
‘I think I would be more useful in my current state.’  
“I’ll dump my shield generator at the same time. There’s no way that thing can resist the both of you.”  
‘You are… abandoning me?’ Delta said in confusion, as if he had never thought that she may need to drop him.  
“It’s my best chance to get out of this.”  
‘South, protocol violations aside, this seems like a very short term solution. The Meta will only grow more powerful by integrating me into-‘  
“Program override; acknowledge last directive.”   
_God, he is way too talkative in the middle of a crisis._  
‘Acknowledged. Preparing storage unit.’  
“Get ready.”  
‘Shield failure in five, four-‘  
“Get ready to eject.”  
‘Three.’  
“Transfer to storage.”  
‘Two.’  
“On my mark-“  
‘One.’  
“Now!” South tensed, ready to charge for the massive hole in the outpost’s wall, aiming for the air vent that she was fairly certain this monster wouldn’t be able to fit through.  
A grenade impacted on the ground near the Meta, barely damaging him, but getting his attention. As the shield faded, two mongooses suddenly came around the corner, one rode by the two Blues, the other by Wash.   
‘New targets encountered.’  
“Don’t let that thing get near her!” Washington said, ducking behind a wall as the Blues crashed into a tree, then hid by a rock.  
 _Good timing on the distraction, Wash._  
As the Meta began focusing on the trio, she ran toward the decayed wall. Just before she reached it, she heard one of the troops say, “Hey, see that purple one? She’s on our team. You should help her.”  
“Okay!”   
Before she could process what they were saying, she heard the staccato of assault rifle fire and felt the sharp pain as more than five bullets struck her back and legs. “Oh, son of a-!” she exclaimed, collapsing onto the concrete.  
‘Alarm, friendly fire!’ Delta said, turning a vibrant red.   
Touching her lower back slowly, she stared at her hand.   
_It matches Delta._   
The thought should have brought her great distress, but instead she felt a sudden calm, as though she no longer had to be mistrustful and keep watching her back.  
 _It all leads down to this. Hoist by my own damn petard. If I hadn’t put North in a position to be killed, he could have been watching my back against the Meta. If I hadn’t shot Wash, he wouldn’t be more than likely wishing the Meta would’ve just killed me instead of my twin. If I hadn’t tried to eject Delta, he would probably have notified me the simulation trooper was aiming at me. It’s all my own fault. North always did think I was way too reckless. I couldn’t even handle a guy holding two cups of coffee, let alone the Meta._   
Squinting at him standing on the bunker she had hidden under before, she absently thought, _he looks a lot like Maine._  
One of the soldiers grabbed a rocket and fired it at the Meta. Just before it would have hit, he seemed to vanish in midair as both Wash and the other troop jumped over the wall they were hiding behind with spikes flying in every direction behind them. “Mm, ah..” she moaned, suddenly feeling a renewed wave of pain.   
Looking at the trio, she heard one of them say, “I’ll do it! I like meeting new people.”   
The Blue with Mark V armor walked over and kneeled near her, accidentally putting his weight on her leg. She gasped as her aches accentuated suddenly. Delta abruptly hopped into the other soldier’s armor.  
 _Asshole._  
 _Why can he abandon me? Yet when I tried that, he tried his hardest to say no. Stupid double standards._  
“Either way, I don’t think we should be hanging out around her,” the light blue trooper said.   
“Then let’s get moving,” Washington said in agreement.  
Attempting to push herself up into a sitting position, South quietly whimpered as the pain increased three-fold, making her barely able to crouch. “I can-, I can’t walk on my own,” she said, feeling miserably self-loathing.   
“Well, I guess you’d better start crawling. If you think I’m leaving you here to escape, you’ve got another thing coming,” Wash said, his voice turning stone-cold.  
‘Agent Washington, if I may. Before you arrived, South attempted to turn me over to the Meta to save herself,’ Delta interjected.   
_Delta, you snitching jerk._  
“Really?” Wash said, sounding rather unsurprised this.  
‘Much like she wounded you to escape in our previous encounter with it. And as I have learned, in our travels, her brother North suffered a similar fate.’  
 _Not only was he a traitor, he also was invading my personal, private thoughts and ratting them out to Wash. I hate that A.I. so much._  
“What a team player,” Washington replied sarcastically.  
‘It is highly probable that she will turn on us again soon, and in her current physical state, she will only hamper our progress.’  
“What are you suggesting?”  
‘That we do not allow her to hamper our progress.’  
 _So he’s betraying me and implying that I be killed. And since it’s an implication, he gets a conscience as clean as a whistle._  
Washington apparently agreed with Delta’s sentiment, as he turned his pistol to South and cocked it, clearly considering it.   
South glared up at him. “Come on, Wash. What are you gonna do, shoot m-“   
“Yes,” he said, interrupting her with a single gunshot.   
She felt the bullet hit. In a few seconds, she would be dead. As she fell back from the pointblank impact, she heard the simulation trooper say, “Dude, you guys are some cold motherfuckers.”  
 _Wash, you son of a bitch._


End file.
